October 2012 #27

Issue #27

Goodbye Chicago.  You’ve always had a place for me on your broad boulevards.  But, I’m married now and it’s time for me to move on.  To settle near family and have kids of my own.  Find a place to call “home” and live the clichés of Thanksgiving dinners and grilling in the backyard.  I love my simple life of taking the “el” to work and checking out the neighborhoods on the weekend; but I must go.

I remember the day I decided to move here.  After that misleading job interview, I wondered all around the Loop knowing there was nothing I could do back in Michigan.  Staring at the spitting faces of Crown Fountain.  Grabbing a hot dog and fries at Max’s Take Out.  I gave myself one year to sink or swim and moved into my Spartan Ravenswood apartment a few days later.

Now, the moving truck has all our junk in it and we’re starting a new life in Rochester, New York.  Will it be better than Chicago?  Apples and oranges.  But, I will miss the activity of a world-class city.  The adventure, amusement, and/or oddities I could find around every street corner.  The food.  All of my friends going to dive bars, the bartering of Maxwell Street Market, all kinds of concerts at a wide variety of venues, apartment parties for any reason, and just sitting on the porch people watching.  It’s been good.  

The New Barbarian Rochestarian

After nine years in Chicago, Megan and I decided it was time for a change of scenery. We resigned from our jobs, which will take effect September 17th and will be moving to Rochester, New York soon after. I want to thank all the people over the years who have been so good to me-from the Art Institute, Chicago Architecture Foundation, and Children's Memorial Foundation. There are also a bunch of random friends that I've made randomly that we will miss. As usual, I will keep everyone updated on here as we learn what we are doing ourselves.

Thanks again Chicago! We will miss you!

Stupid Smiles

What do I love about winter in Chicago?  After the hibernation, a nice day happens and everyone walks around the city with these stupid smiles on their faces.  It's great.  Plus, I get to look at a bunch of buildings I've neglected over the previous few months


Speaking of stupid smiles...


The most accusatory "please help me" sign ever...


My car from high school, except green.  Best car ever.  $5 in Diesel gas every couple of weeks and when it broke down, you opened the hood and could see what the problem was and fix it.  Only thing better is a bike


Megan and I observed Earth Hour by playing Life by candlelight.  How romantic...


Looks more like a Ouija Board...


Our little wedding sweatshop operation


More invites than our printer thought possible.  Or is that more Kraft American Singles than he thought possible?








Nothing like a game of 20 on 20 soccer...


YO!

Hope everyone has a good Easter.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Just wanted to make sure my friends saw I posted another zine. To view it, go to the links at the bottom.



View A NEW TOMORROW No. 25 (February 2008)

View A NEW TOMORROW No. 26 (August 2008)

Visit A New Tomorrow's MySpace Profile Page

Thanks for your encouragement and support!

Mike Kraus

Humboldt Park: The Movie

They are filming a movie in my neighborhood. Here's the article:

"There's no shortage of movies shot in town, but it's rare that one has its heart rooted as squarely in the city as the forthcoming 'Humboldt Park.' Produced by local-boys-made-good Robert Teitel and George Tillman, Jr., of State Street Pictures--which has also produced such films as 'Soul Food,' 'Men of Honor' and 'Barber Shop'--'Humboldt Park' ups the local love factor by bringing in Humboldt Park native Freddy Rodriguez to star, and will be shot entirely in the neighborhood starting this month. That's enough to make us want to go see it already, but, for those who need more: Directed by Alfredo De Villa (Washington Heights), the comedy-drama tells the story of a first- and-second- generation Puerto Rican-American family as the various members return home for the holidays to Humboldt Park and, like many of us, work on sorting out their functionally dysfunctional lives. Rodriguez plays a Marine with a heart of gold returning from a tour in Iraq while John Leguizamo has signed on to play his go-get-'em Manhattan-lawyer brother. While the film promises to entertain and is filled with laughs, it's not all fun and games, as one question it poses is: What happens when the family you thought you could always fall back on begins to change? Even Chicagoans will have to wait and see.


Megan and Noah contemplating Scrabble


FRANCES! I CHALLENGE YOUR USE OF THE WORD "TRON!!!!"


Noah, Frances, and Megan understand that drinking makes Scrabble interesting


Noah changes things up with Chutes and Ladders.


One of many recent snow storms in Chicago


Katherine, our Georgia Peach, is excited about snow and we gave he instructions on how to build a proper snowman at Goldies.


Nick throws the best Halloween parties. Too bad I showed up fully dressed the day after...


She's a quick learner.


Katherine and Nick


MORE SNOW!! AND MORE COMING TONIGHT!!!

That's it and thanks to Megan for letting me use her camera and all others who offered.

Mike

R.I.P. Good Friend...

RIP good friend. He died at the Chicago Bulls game last friday. This Kodak EasyShare CX7530 5.0 megapixel camera was the best camera I've ever had. I beat the hell out of it and it should have died sometime in the summer of 2005. I've dropped it in sand, spilt all kinds of liquids on it, and all sorts of other things. The hard drive and all still works, but the lens refuses to open anymore. With that said, that means there probably won't be many photo blogs in the near future.

*Kodak, if you would like to sponsor my blog, I'm willing to negotiate...


The last image taken on my little Kodak. Batman riding My Little Pony off into the sunset...

"That Was Awful." "What Are You Looking At Me For? You Said It." "I know. It's Still Awful."

The festivities continue. In fact, I might have to help others in finding festivies. A lot of people have been sending me e-mails acknowledging their lameness and wanting help. So, I think I am going to start a "What To Do In Muskegon" website. It will have parties, bars, concerts, shows, and other events. So, start sending all public welcome events to me and I will see what I can do...

This is GH pier right before it rained.

Hasan and I planned a huge party last night. Look at all the people. People refused the invitation by phone, so we ended up going out because people cannot refuse by force. The Beast From the Middle East knows that all too well...

Ahhh... Friends Forever...

Here are our recruits for Hasan's party just as everyone was to head home. Notice the guilty looks and body postures on everyone. By the time 5:30 am rolled around, I think everyone had something to regret...

Not sure what I am doing today. Andrea's birthday is at midnight and she becomes legal. I don't want to be out too late since I have to work tomorrow morning and have to catch up on some sleep. Especially since Monday is going to be my Day of Wreckoning...

"We'd Be On the Boat and Do the Thing."

Last night may have been my last full day in Muskegon for a while. I may be back next weekend. I may not. I don't know. So, I had an impromptu (sp?) going away party. How unplanned was this going away party? Not even the people who live in Turtle House knew it was my going away party until at least half way through. The pictures tell the story of the evening.... For the most part.

Don't cry Tania. I'll be back in Muskegon soon. And Chicago is a fun place to visit.

Look at those luscious sideburns. Damn baby, no wonder the Rambone sleeps with you at night.

Pondering what Muskegon is going to be without Mike Kraus? Who will go to the Vous with you? Who will mom talk art to? Oh, the worries...

I am the drunkest looking sober man I have ever seen.

Nice. You wonder why I call you The Terrorist. The CIA knows what he is talking about.

Andrea and Leslie smoking and drinking.

Guns, beer, and cigarettes. Sounds like a good evening. Now, what can you do in the back seat of a Rivera in the Turtle House driveway. Oh, I remember... 4-eva...

What are you telling Ana-Shea, Nick? It looks like you are picking up some strange woman off the streets of Chicago and she's not having it. Story of my life...

Best friends Forever. This picture is the last piece of Hasan's going away birthday present. The girls got him a picture frame and this pic is what's going in it.

I'm going to miss you all. At the beginning of summer, I was a miserable mess. Yet, somehow it ended up being one of the best times of my life. I've had so much fun, learned a lot about myself, learned a lot about my friends, and love you all. When I move to Chicago, I expect each and everyone of you to come down and sleep on my couch. I will post my phone number and mailing address once I know what it is. I might be out of communication for a while. Don't worry, I'm just a nomad.

Today, I have a job interview at the American Red Cross. I'm just going to go in and be an arrogant jerk. I know I'm not going to work there. They can't match the job offer I got. But, I might make a friend there and be able to leverage something at a later date. After that, I will pack up the little electric car and drive down to Mike Nummerdor's place. We might go see some grizzly bear movie and drinking. I'm really glad that when I move to Chicago this time I am going to have some really good friends there to hang out with.

Don't forget me Muskegon, I love you all...

Mike Kraus

"I Can Drink A Whole Hennesey Fifth. Some Call It A Problem. I Call It A Gift."

I may not be on any tourism board or anything. But, I found this on Washington Ave. in Grand Haven. Granted, it is with a bunch of other military paraphenalia, I don't think it is a good idea to have Nazi flags promeniently displayed in your windows when your town has a problem of being populated with White Supremicists. Just a gut feeling.

I was in GH with Frances rocking out. I bought her glasses and she bought me food. It was a match made in heaven. My new glasses have yellow lenses and makes me look like a raver. Fucking ravers. I guess it goes along with my new early 90's/emo bang hair cut...

Yesterday was the family reunion. So, plenty of drinking, food, and softball. Saw pictures of Nick's new kid from Big Jer. Talked with him a bit about Chicago and all. I'll be visiting him (maybe) on the 26th.

The Terrorist and I (CIA) went to Lakeshore and hung out with Alice and Megan. Saw Joanna and talked to her a little bit. TJ and Jesse showed up and talked to them a bit. Just kept talking.

Now, this is my Public Service Announcement portion of my blog. Thing of this as being like a do not smoke campaign. This is a "Do Not Drink and Listen To Jeff Bridges" campaign. There was a tree at the show that was leaning and split, which made it perfect for running up. Jeff wanted to "run up trees" and passed the invite along to me. He ran and then I ran. Although, my shoes no longer have tread on them and instead it looked like I just ran full speed into a tree. My knee hurts like shit now. The picture is what it looks like after I cleaned it up. The amazing thing is I was wearing Dickie pants and they didn't even get a scratch on them.

Went to Racquet's after that and saw Amanda, Andrea, and Bobby. There was a guy passed out in vomit next to Amanda's car when we got there. He looked dead and I told the bouncer. They didn't seem to care, but some people carried him off when I tried to help. Hopefully, he knew them. Racquet's got way out of control There were two wedding and a bachelorette parties in there. Dancing on the bar. Wet T-shirt contests. Body shots. Shady guys and horny girls. Lethal combination.

Moved the party to Hasan's and passed out.

Had a picnic at Hasan's when Andrea woke us all up. We were suppose to go to a movie tonight, but Hasan is always late by at least a half hour. Watched Napolean Dynomite instead and laid around Andrea's house.

Guess there was bowling tonight. I didn't get the memo until 1 am. Hope it was fun.

Tomorrow, I have to pick up my final check from work and do some other banking stuff. Check on a few jobs. Monday Night Club. I must do Monday Night Club. Also, meeting with one of my clients. Must meet with client.

Terrorist Intelligence Agency - Same Shit, Different Day (the hit album)

About a week ago, I bitched that Grand Haven was stupid because they have fireworks every year on a dune. Here is my evidence... And that asshole said people from Muskegon were "stupider."

Here is the Commie and the Terrorist.

I (CIA) hung out with Hasan for a while over at P & Q for a while trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Nothing, so we made up our own shit.

Met up with Alice over at Cadillac Jack's. It was a pretty good time. Jesse, Brandon, and TJ were there. I really wasn't in too much of a good mood and not feeling that active.

Brandon certainly knows how to woo the ladies. We are over at Buckley's and every girl who walked through the door got some kind of insult. That drunk asshole. Apologies all around ladies...

Not too sure what is going on today. I'm suppose to get my final paycheck, hang out with Frances, party at Turtle House, something else? Who knows? Call me if you do.

"I'll Get You Fucked Up. I'll Get You Crack, Her'on, Exstasy, Whatever." THE RETURN OF PHOTOS!

It's a Girl

I'd like to start off by welcoming a new baby girl to the Kraus family. Nick and Kayt gave birth to Ella Cameo Kraus, I believe that is the name, yesterday morning. I haven't heard too many details other than she was 7 lbs, 1 oz., and both mother and child are doing fine. Congrats!!!

On another joyous note: I got my pics back. I didn't do shit. AOL just decided to stop being a little bitch. Go figure...

Here's pics from the Vous from about a week ago. Pretty stale, huh? I'll have some fresh from the garden pics soon. I promise.

Hung out with Alice a little bit at Turtle House. She gave me Blue Moon and I found a new way to pick up girls using a cell phone. It's amazing!

Went to the Blue Note. It was seeing random ass people night there. As soon as I walked in I saw Kristie Weston (Vandersomething). She's a friend and former roommate from Grand Rapids. She was in Muskegon for some party for her friend and I got to meet her husband. It was good seeing her again and I guess I might see her again soon at her housewarming party. There were tons of other people too. Love 'em all.

Finished the night off at the Vous. Totally got into a fight with Tania. I think she learned her lesson. That was followed up with coffee and a half an order of a Sheep Herder Omlette that Hasan couldn't finish.

So, what's with the questions and hard decisions lately? Man, I'm unemployed (other than the music thing), don't really have too many possessions, or much else going on. You would think a dirty hippie like me wouldn't have much to worry about. Man, I feel like I'm at a press conference much of the time trying to answer the media about my life. I will tell you this... I don't know. And, if I did know it doesn't mean anything because it really isn't my decision in the end. That about sums up everything right now (jobs, living situation, etc.). It's really passive, but most people know where I stand on things and they just need to figure out where they stand. And, I do the same shit too. I try to be upfront and avoid the drama. Maybe I just need to let you, the reader, make decisions for me so I know what I am doing wrong.

Enough of that... Don't know what is going on tonight. I have to mail out a rock and/or roll package today. That's about it. If anyone knows what is going on, give me a call.